Apparatus for pumping solids



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \ION I llslii'l w. R. BURNSIDE APPARATUS FOR PUMPING SOLIDS March 29, 1960 Original Filed Aug. 24. 1953 INVENTOR.

Marcli 29, 1960 w. R. BURNSIDE Re. 24,803

APPARATUS FOR PUMPING SQLIDS- Original File d Aug. 24, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR PUMPING SOLIDS Walter R. Burnside, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Brawley Pump Company, San

Gabriel, Calif.

Original No. 2,785,930, dated March 19, 1957, Serial No. 376,215, August 24, 1953. Application for reissue February 4, 1959, Serial No; 780,653

16 Claims. (Cl. 302 -37) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in the 3 original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

of violent contact with the apparatus.

, In an apparatus made according to the principle of my invention, a rotary pump designed to have a minimal contact between the entrained solids carried by the fluid isprovided by imparting a vertical flow to the pump fluid and entrained'solids in a pump swirl chamber of divergent vortex-like generally conical shape defined at one end by the concave blade profile of a centrally apertured impeller element,-the central aperture 'or eye of which forms a part of the pump inlet and a similarly formed spaced concentric convex face. Preferably the shaft on which the impeller is mounted is hollow and serves to conduct the material thru the impeller-eye into the casing The casing-wall defining means opposite the one thru which the material enters the casing acts as a deflector, aids in guiding-the material thru the casing,

and this wall preferably is formed as a stationary casing wall member which may be made removable, to permit easy access and removal of the impeller. The hollow shaft maybe built in sections, to permit partial disassembly, for the convenient installation of belts, pulleys or other means of power-application.

" This kind of apparatus is intended to be used primarily for handlingsolids in suspension. It can profitably be used in draining sumps and disposing of sewage, tailings, storm-waters and waste-liquids generally, despite the suspension therein of considerable quantities of solids, e.g., trash, litter, manure and general refuse which would be more likely to clog and damage any pumps now used for such purposes. Suchapparatus,

made according to my invention, can with equal profit.

be used to handle solids by means of their suspension, in more fluent media, e.g., such solids as sand, gravel, coal, mineral ores in process and many others. Because of its simplicity, it is easily adapted to provide ready access to the interior for cleaning and inspection and therefore particularly adapted to the handling of food-stuffs and foods in process of preparation, such as fruits, vegetables, fish, soups and innumerable others.

Some of the objects of my invention are to provide a kind of apparatus which will handle solids in suspension with less Wear of. internal parts, less clogging and less damage to apparatus or solids than is possible with conventional pumps now used for such purposes, and to provide such apparatus which is also elficient, simple and easily built and maintained.

' The principle of my invention .is illustrated by the embodiment now described, with the aid of the drawings. My invention is of course not limited to such specific details as are here set forth, except by the claims themselves and any prior art. This embodiment is a pump, a longitudinal vertical section of which is shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 is an end-elevation.

Referring first to Figure 1, the broad principle of the invention resides in providing a pump having an unobstructed vortex shaped swirl chamber defined by spaced opposed complementary convex and concave faces and which has a coaxial inlet directed axially into the eye of the vortex through the concave faces toward the convex face and a peripheral, preferably tangentially directed outlet. In the preferred form of the invention, the concave swirl chamber face is defined by the profile of the impeller blades on a rotatably mounted power driven impeller and fluid is introduced into the swirl chamber through the center of the impeller, the hollow shaft is in two sections 10, 11. One end of the section 10 enters the pump-casing 12 and has mounted on that end an impeller 13, held in place with the key 14 and the impeller-lock-nut 15. The section 10 of the hollow shaft 10, 11 is mounted. on a bearing 16 which is in turn supported by the bearing-support 17. Leakage of liquid from within the casing 12 during operation is prevented by the packing 18, which is held in position by the adjustable packing-nut 19.

In this embodiment, a drive-pulley 20 is integrally formed on one end of the section 10 of the hollow shaft 10,11 and another pulley 21 is integrally formed on the adjacent end of the section 11, to transmit the necessary power for the rotation of the hollow shaft 10, 11 and the impeller 13. These pulleys 20, 21 are separably joined by means of circumferentially spaced bolts 22. The two sections of the hollow shaft 10, 11 and the two pulleys 20, 21 are separated by the gasket 23 to prevent leakage.

The hollow-shaft section 11 is mounted on the bearing 24, which is held by the bearing-support 25. Both of the bearings 16, 24 are automatically cooled by the liquid in the material being handled. The bearing supports 17, 25 are mounted on a base-plate 26 and secured for alignment by the suitably-placed bolts 27.

The conveyance of the material into the rotating, hollow shaft 10, 11 is achieved by means of an adjustable, stationary hollow-shaft-extcnsion 28. This extension 28 is threaded to permit its being screwed into the bearingsupport 25 and against a packing 29. Clearance is provided between the stationary hollow-shaft-extension 28 and the rotating, hollow shaft 10, 11, and leakage thru this clearance is prevented by screwing the said extension 28 against the packing 29.

To facilitate the connection of the hollow-shaft-extension 28 with a fixed supply-line, not shown, without impairing the adjustability of the hollow-shaft-extension 28, a flange 30 is slidably mounted on the extension 28. The flange 30 is provided with a packing 31, held in place by the packing-nut 32, by which means leakage between the flange 30 and the hollow-shaft-extcnsion is prevented.

The perimeter of the casing 12 is volute in form and is provided with two opposing spaced respectively concave and convex concentric walls 33, 34. The wall 33, thru which the hollow-shaft section 10 enters the casing 12, is recessed to form an impeller recess or chamber adapted to receive the impeller 13. This wall 33, I will call the entrance-wall 33. The end-wall 34, opposite the entrance-wall 33, is removable and substantially conical in form,'witl1 the cones apex 35 toward the center of the entrance-wall 33. The end-wall 34 is secured in position by circumferentialiy-spaced bolts 36. The opening created by the removal of the end-wall 34 is large enough' to permit the removal of the impeller 13.

The convex surface of conoidal end-wall 34 is spaced from, opposed to and generally. parallels the concave outlet thereinsurrounding the, periphery of said members, at least one of said members being. mounted for rotation concentric with the axis ofisaidisurface of revolution of its said face and having a plurality of equiangu larly. spaced pockets formed in its said face and. defining therebetween a plurality of equiangularly spaced blades equiangularly inclined with respectto the axis of. rotation of said one member, said one member beingsaid first member. V l

8. In an apparatus for handling solids entrained in a fluid: a casing defining a volute chamber having a coaxial inlet, a circumferential outlet and axially spaced opposed end face defining means supported in said casing, said end face defining means being in the form of complementary concave and convex surfaces of revolution sloping away from said inlet and defining a flow path therebetween interconnecting said inlet and said eduction outlet, at least the one of said end face defining means on the inletside of said chamber comprising an impeller element having blades thereon at one side vof and facing toward said flow path and adapted upon rotation of said impeller element to create a vortical flow of fluid and its entrained solids from said inlet through said flow path past said impeller to said outlet thereby minimizing impingement of said entrained solids on said impeller and its blades and said opposed end face defining means.

9. In an apparatus for handling solids entrained in a fluid: a casing defining a volute chamber having a coaxial inlet, a circumferential eduction outlet and axially spaced opposed end face defining means supported in said casing, said end face defining means being in the form of complementary concave and convex surfaces of revolution sloping away from said inlet and defining a flow path therebetween interconnecting said inlet and said eduction outlet, at least one of said endface defining means comprising an impeller element having blades thereon at one side of and facing toward said flow path and adapted upon'rotation of said impeller element to create a vortical flow of fluid and its entrained solids from said inlet through said flow path past said impeller to said outlet thereby minimizing impingement of said entrained solids on said impeller and its blades and said opposed end face defining means, said one end face defining means being disposed adjacent to and in surrounding relation to the coaxial inlet discharge end and being centrally apertured opposite said inlet to admit introduction of said fluid and its entrained solids directly into said flow path through the impeller element aperture.

10. In an apparatus for handling solids ehtrained in a fluid: a casing defining a volute chamber having a coaxial inlet, a circumferential eduction outlet and axially spaced opposed end face defining means supported in said casing, said end face defining means being in the form of complementary concave and convex surfaces of revolution sloping away from said inlet and defining a flow path therebetween interconnecting said inlet and said eduction outlet, at least the one of said end face defining means on the inlet side of said chamber comprising an impeller element having blades thereon at one side of and facing toward said flow path and adapted upon rotation of said impeller element to create a vortical flow of fluid and its entrained solids from said inlet through said flow path past said impeller to said outlet thereby minimizing impingement of said entrained solids on said impeller and its blades and said opposed end face defining means, said opposed end face defining means having generally parallel opposed portions extending radially outwardly from and forwardly of the inner end of said coaxial inlet to define a substantially conoidal, annularly extending swirl chamber between said inlet and said outlet.

11 In an apparatus for handling solids entrained in a fluid: a casing having an end wall, a peripheral wall defining a swirl chamber and an impeller chamber in adjacentaxial relation between said. end wall and said swirl chambert'a coaxially disposedinlet 'havinga port extending through said endwall to-deliver said fluid and the: entrained solids to: the center-of said swirl chamber;- and a tangential; outlet having a port extending throughtsaid peripheralv wall and..communicating with said. swirl chamber at its/periphery; end .wall defining meanstopposed to: said one end wall,'.and..rotatable impeller means supported by said casing for concentric rotation in said impeller chamber, said impeller means comprising a centrally apertured member having impeller blade defining recesses in the face thereof opposed to said end wall means and lying radially outwardly of said inlet port along the adjacent end of said swirl chamber and being effective upon rotation to impart a vortical flow to the fluid and entrained solids passing into and through said swirl chamber whereby pumping of said fluid and its entrained solids through said swirl chamber to said outlet port is effected by the fluid vortex created by said impeller blades.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said end wall means and said centrally apertured plate member provide generally uniformly spaced opposed swirl chamber end wall means extending radially outwardly from and forwardly of the inner end of said inlet port to define a substantially conical, annularly extending swirl chamber between said inlet port and said outlet port, said outlet port being located at the periphery of said swirl chamber at the point along the periphery of said conical swirl chamber where the vortical flow of said fluid and its entrained solids intersects the periphery of said swirl chamber thereby minimizing contact between said entrained solids and said casing walls and said impeller means.

13. A pump impeller for handling solids entrained ina fluid: comprising a radial body having'a coaxial, centrally disposed inlet eye, a blade support face extending radially outwardly and axially forwardly from one end of said inlet eye to form a generally conical forwardly overhanging annular wall surface and impeller blading rigidly mounted on said annular wall surface at equiangularly spaced intervals and protruding therefrom and extending in chordal fashion along said wallsurface toward said inlet eye to form a generally conically shaped well at said one end of said inlet eye.

14. A pump impeller comprising a body member having a concave surface of revolution, means defining a fluid port through said member coaxial with and intersecting said surface, said surface having a-Iplurality of equiangularly spaced pockets formed therein and defining therebetween a plurality of equiangularly spaced blades equiangularly inclined with respectto the impeller axis.

15. A rotary pump chamber and impeller assembly for handling solids entrained. in a fluid: comprising a casing defining a chamber, having generally conical spaced end wall means including an impeller comprising a radial body having a coaxial, centrally disposed inlet eye, a blade support face extending radially outwardly and axially forwardly from one end of said inlet eye to form a generally conical forwardly overhanging annular wall surface'and impeller blading rigidly mounted on said annular wall surface at equiangularly spaced intervals and protruding therefrom and extending in chordal fashion along said wall surface toward said inlet eye to form a generally conically shaped wellat said one end of said inlet eye, said impeller being journalled by said casing with its said annular wall surface opposed to said end wall means and axially spaced therefrom to define therebetween a generally vortex-like swirl chamber for receiving and conveying entrained solids in a fluid pumped by said impeller blades from said inlet eye to the periphery of said swirl chamber.

16. In a pump for handling solids entrained in a fluid, means defining a swirl chamber in the general shape of a xor'texheating a; denim! ooaxial inlet and a peripheral outlet through wk'ioh flnid and entrained solids may m; front said mm toj'q'a'id outlet, ant! means outside said'swinichamber on at least the in'lers'iae of said cham her! for inducing yorticai flow df fluid in saidmwirl 5 chamber from said inlet to said outlet whereby entrained -galid's Past from said inlet to said outlet in the fluid stream" without deletetiaut" contact with said flow inducing means: I

*Rdere'xieu in the me of thilpalent' ,ulf'g hei original patent: H

STATES PATENTS Q 18. 1294 mp2; 1911s 11 19 L v. 2 0 Brawley Apr. 21, 19 53 

